Michigan close to primary solution?

by Matthew Hay Brown

Michigan Democrats may be nearing an agreement on a primary do-over, a deal that would give the state’s voters a voice in the party’s presidential nomination process. But in Florida, where a proposal for a mail-in primary has drawn mostly skepticism, the outlook for a second vote remains murky.

Democrats in both states are searching for a way to get delegations seated at the party’s nominating convention this summer in Denver. The Democratic National Committee says it will not recognize delegates selected at primaries that were moved up to January in defiance of the national party.

Rep. Carolyn Kirkpatrick, one of several Michigan Democrats working torward a resolution, told reporters this morning that an agreement on a vote June 3 was close. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer called the focus of the committee on a state-run, privately funded primary “a good first step.”

"Several critical steps remain,” he said, and named them: “drafting legislation that is acceptable to the MDP and both the Clinton and Obama campaigns; enacting that legislation into law; preparing a revised delegate selection plan incorporating the legislation; having that plan approved by the MDP Executive Committee and the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee; and raising sufficient funds the to pay for the primary.”

Less optimistic are Florida Democrats. Neither the Clinton nor Obama camps expressed much enthusiasm for the proposal of the state party Thursday to send out ballots that voters could return by mail or in person at one of 50 locations statewide by June 3.

The state's House Democrats responded to the proposal Thursday with a statement of unanimous opposition. Rep. Robert Wexler, who is backing Obama, told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews warned that it would create “all kinds of fiasco,” resulting in a second contested vote.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Clinton supporter, also used the word “fiasco.”

“In Florida, where we've been struggling for the last eight years to restore voters’ confidence that when they go to the polls their vote counts, you know, the voters’ nerves there are very raw,” she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Clinton won both states – Obama’s name didn’t appear on the Michigan ballot – after the candidates agreed not to campaign. With the race still close, Clinton now wants the delegates seated based on those results. The Obama campaign has suggested seating delegates split 50-50 between the two candidates, a result that would cement his lead.

With 367 delegates between the two states, the blocked bloc could prove decisive in the close race. Party leaders fear that a decision to shut them out of the convention could cost the eventual nominee those battleground states in November.